In the early 1990 s. Left new york for a newly reunified berlin since then has had one success after the other we set down with the energetic choreographer to talk about her rise from the french to major opera houses and her next job as courtis to director of the berlin state ballet. Used to your company 25 years ago with you. Could you ever have imagined the International Success youve had since. Nonsense time no one says nothing and not in 93 after the fall of the berlin wall and shortly after unification the Central District of michigan was a place a. Of seemingly endless opportunities when we any opened our venue and theres a feeling they are 3 years later in 1906. Before that we were like nomads wandering from one industrial space to the next and each time we started up a nice change here as it is in fact life will unfold from the outset we turned internationally we toured the us and our 2nd or 3rd year we traveled to india and toured a lot in europe peeling off. So right from the start travelling was part of our identity it was our aspiration and our concept. Of the insult on our consul says 1st and nestles at us that we wanted to build bridges with our art and take it to different audiences to countries and cultures that also inspire our work. For the new year off in so in that respect alive today isnt all that different than it was 25 years ago or. Is and i mean get. This all. Us us fans it was its our. Sufyan zillah emitter once hosted meetings of left wing revolutionaries later it was used by the nazis then it was a fear workshop with its dilapidated charm and checkered history it was the perfect setting for such of arts as breakthrough production. And offbeat provocative production part of a trilogy on the absurdities of domestic life the Company Research for months in communist era housing complexes. In. Salie rush of arts danced along with her ensemble but she was always striving for new forms of expression and cooperation with other artists her dance alone was never enough. Ask money that i know. 107. 00 i began downs lessons with one teacher i started taking classes from the age of 5 and the teacher i was with the age of 12 had studied under mary whitman so i have a very very deep connection to german expressionist dance kind i just got up but it didnt really influence my decision to start dancing professionally because at the time i wanted to pursue a career in the visual arts. It was only through my discovery of post modern dance and contact improvise ation and all of these consciousness techniques that i developed an interest in studying dont. This and. Intricate. In the life and you generally dont produce strictly narrative pieces its not Dance Theatre which some critics hold against you. They say your work is to associate a verse serial. Are you bothered by such criticism i get is and the critic. Is come it out because i need to be honest i cant remember reading such from the us im normally i dont read reviews anyway. I see get on there air ferial dimension that is accessed through association is very important to me and in our communication with the audience we call them bus i live in thats purely one dimensional way of saying just one thing and everyone understands the same thing i find that boring. Through its. It has to be something that speaks to each individual in a unique way. Eden the touches something deep down in each person and the audience. But it has to be entirely free. Of us with dance highs thats when the work becomes profound. As it does when it touches on the mystery inside you or that the money is gone and that doesnt happen if youre simply telling a linear story. Involves developed one of the most significant productions carper during her 5 year stint as courtis to director of berlins shall be in a theater its an exploration of anatomy that delves into every aspect of the human body. Time and again the company conjures images that sear themselves into the viewers memory like a nightmare. At the same time vult isnt afraid of venturing into more abstract territory in her piece for hour and she takes dance back to its origins in ceremonial rituals. While her early works were wild her later choreography is feel more crafted for our tour she transforms dancers into animalistic creatures and explore social issues like power and helplessness freedom and control. Your mother was a gallery astin your father an architect so you may have inherited your talent for strong visuals from the one side but space has also always played a key role in your work its very central. What do you look for in a space could you imagine staging a production for example at the building site of berlins new International Airport through coffin solution. Your outpost and. Let me ask Building Sites are certainly intriguing spaces and weve often rehearsed at Building Sites if the Jewish Museum had only just been completed it was still empty when the collection hadnt yet been installed the boys that usually we perform at that intermediary moment before the space assumes the function it was designed for so before the exhibit moves then. Its exciting because its really a moment that breathes life into a space its a real inauguration. By that i became really clear to me without work for berlin as noiselessly on the how to off the space had this Incredible Energy it had been abandoned for so long and then undergone 12 years of reconstruction. On the spot so it was intriguing for me to envision what it would become and to awaken afterlife with darts past as im deal but what does cancer those 2 needles as well as a must be for example we focused on the cult of the dead in a room that would display the past of create an effort. About the noise in the same house as a large injection collection and thats why i did a lot of research on ancient egypt. On so it also says inspiration not just the building and the architecture as such its the site in its entirety that shows me how to put a space in motion that all done with vehicles that tell me i am 2013 the company was invited to kolkata then calcutta to cap year of Cultural Exchange between india and germany often the production was staged in the courtyard in wings of an old private palace dating from colonial times. Such abouts collaborated on a project with the indian choreographer padmini chair tour and her ensemble i. Had sons that was out of the project in kolkata was very unusual it was an old palace so naturally a different way of telling stories a marriage because the rooms had simply been sealed off and there was this life that had taken place previously as have time it stood still like a fairy tale when everyones falling into a deep sleep and time goes on. The pictures in the malls fade to black and dust settles everywhere on to papers on the bed it was really a very interesting experience. Having the noise all across without because we have coined a new genre the choreographic opera it incorporates elements of contemporary dance into operatic Stage Productions but it treats all parts as equals music the dancers the singers and all embracing art form what appeals to you about working on the stages of major opera houses and institutions. In your thoughts. And then told of how it was a great experience for me to be able to choreograph a body of people as a whole i and then of course of course. So its not about the dancers on a choir and some lists anymore but about the group who. Becomes an entity and you cant really identify who is doing what and i extended that idea and began working with august recess so that they also start moving start dancing so that the orchestra would also become one body once you can achieve an amazing dynamic in a room where sound literally moves. Then clung cease. Fire was am. Many of the worlds major opera houses were now open to her in paris rome tokyo and berlin. She would oversee the entire stage production managing to transform even the unwieldy medium of opera and give it her own signature. That. You said you often look for female protagonists in opera to medea was one of those how did you deal with her character that i think shes usually condemned as the barbaric child murderer. In the. Production coincided with the case of a mother here in germany who was on trial for murdering her children what approach did you take for the piece medea. Its been this im a citizen a c. S. Fund think well i think shes a very interesting character but shes also very ambivalent i wanted to take time to think about her intensively without judging inconceivable by now just imagine at what point is a woman capable of killing her children what extreme pain or despair do you have to experience to reach that point as a but so they since high point of hall. I found it very difficult to put myself in that position and direct a production. Of course i had to imagine it and be part of it which at times was unbearable. Its a few and there was really hard to give myself over to us what. Sponges. Doctors did to clients who were killed in. Midair is one of the best known characters in greek mythology she famously helped jason and the argonauts retrieve the Golden Fleece jason binn married her only to later leave her for another woman the daughter of the king crayon medea took revenge by killing crayon his daughter and her own 2 children to eat. In this production the children as ourselves and her husband were part of the cast further intensifying the emotions felt by their mother. Who became known for the children it was like playing it was a great experience for them they learned all the songs and the wonderful thing about theater is that it is a lot like playing we play dead and then we all get up again. And then the mark with your children more often with you during productions and while traveling or on tour and the dancers were with you to. Read up by it was like one big family for you also for me if you sit down with. A visitor and tourist i always have babysitters with me. But they did spend a lot of time with the dancers during rehearsals for. Intense and and when they were dancing too they were just part of the cast and they didnt get any special supervision oil or no i always tried to have them with me. I never forced them to come so i always asked if thats what they wanted one but i just wouldnt see enough of the children otherwise because we spent a lot of time working underprepared house and were often out of the evening. Out of obviously weve tried to strike a balance. But fortunately both the children love dancing and singing im going to the theatre and playing fair to her. So it seems that passion has been passed on to them. After but. Youve invested a lot of time in promoting young talent starr you have the childrens dance company. Parent company youve also been involved in dance in schools how important is that to you. This this is. Yeah this is. My interest in children stance actually came with my 1st child last. Else it lasted all i got on a workshop at a school and it grew from there and thats what he loved it and it helped i found it more and more interesting as i realised how important artists particularly for children approaching puberty and then couple interacting with other peoples bodies with their own bodies their own selfimage is there because youre very much confronted with yourself unless process because youre working in a group to lance if youre single and a lot about Group Dynamics you get a new spatial awareness how do i move within a room how do i stand in relation to somebody else im. Back and were great help in everyday life its not that Everyone Needs to become a dancer its about learning to live in your own body to feel your body and to feel at home when your body. Is. And this is the whole thing. If youve ever. Last year you yourself dance to. And here at the ready as is tim for the project to her and. Do you miss dancing would you like to do it more often again one of the things. Anywhere on the i love dancing on stage but i cant do both if im choreographing a big piece i cant be on stage myself as wow thats just the way it is but if i can dance for special projects now and then im happy. For la for work its been. One of those special projects to work on or listen it offers dancers and artists from various parts of the world scope to interact and explore current political and social issues through art an opportunity for the shovels to explore and improvise to. Get them on a stick at the roots as i did you know passing on a growing number of pieces to outside Companies Including some abroad where your dancers oversee the rehearsals and if there is this an opportunity to release the ensemble to work independently of you align our white. Garden is. Yes this is a new branch of my work you could say. I think its good for experienced dancers to pass on what they know and that these compositions continue to live on and the Younger Generation hell attend said many dancers who pass on whats continue to dance themselves i think its good to give others the opportunity to be involved but it becomes like a whole new production you think you just passing something on but thats not actually the case. Its our county its marginalise i usually do a workshop with the dancers where i go through the entire piece. As its intended with all the moves so that i know what its all about. These boys and it intends and thats not just that i cant do that a lot but its exciting to pass something on and watch it take on a new life on the scene it is noise laden called. In the spring of this year the tathra dilla veal in lisbon performs nash about his piece to. The dancer spent 5 weeks with her sing and. Then turned up to add the finishing touches. To of her experience dancers had overseen all the rehearsals. From israel. And cloudy osho others from portugal so it was their job to help the dancers find their own style rather than just copying certain moves suddenly the 2 were working as equals alongside their longstanding boss i think its working relation of many years and the personal relation also you know so. Yeah. I think that in that case gives a lot of trust like she gave her responsibility to hand over the piece and she gives a trust and also we have been working with them for 5 weeks so we can actually we know them better than her in this situation so its its a good thing that to be still stay. In communication with each other for certain things and then something she comes and she wants to bring it from the outside more her own home owner sensations and smell and to put something on top of what we brought but its its a long term collaboration so we are communicating in a very natural way and i truly happy my so i still see things differently sometimes and i pass on the specific details that are important to me. But i know that the dancers ive chosen are very precise and that i can trust them and so far its worked very well touch wood and theres been no problems its been i enjoy being able to let go and step back a bit. The piece takes on a life of a time and its not a fixed creation rose and moves away from me back. When yeah. Lets talk about your new production exodus which you did for the 25th anniversary of your dance company. Exodus from the greek both in the sense of departure and escape what led you to this idea. I was weak and it was this idea of fleeing from more scaping from something finding a way out obviously we associated on the one hand with the bible and the exodus of the israel lights from egypt. But when youre in greece for example you see it written in every subway station many clubs and bars have adopted the name exodus. That fascinated me and thats after i decided on the one hand. You have this idea of a group thats running away their corporate fleet leaving one place and moving somewhere else in. It on this and i gather this process that takes place more in the mind. As often cup as we all step out of your body into another dimension and to this techno trance or ecstasy patient off kind of a techno x. Lets gets very much about a Group Experience that includes going to and past the point of exhaustion with the audience. And so thats like a journey to. A journey that last 2 and a half hours involving captivity then finding a way out and escaping it raises questions such as what were fleeing from and where to exodus is intense and heavy going and for now at least it will be the last production that sasha about stages with her company. She will remain the official director but she will leave the body as is dame it will continue as a production and performance venue for the company but she now has a new position shell become the 1st woman to head up the highly traditional berlin state ballet. Finals nandan in 2019 youll take over as artistic director of the berlin state ballet alongside your highness ramin are you excited maybe a bit apprehensive. Now theres no cause are also wrong to start taking on the state ballet is certainly a major challenge so ive been preparing for it for 2 and a half or nearly 3 years i think. Its a very long process and yes i want to actually stop the job until 2019 common. There were initially huge protests over the decision to appoint a contemporary choreographer to codirector state ballet the traditional dancers were not happy with the shots had actually worked with the state ballet before writing a solo piece for its former artistic director of light in their mother called to great acclaim. These angry protests have now seen just. One thing is clear taking over the state well a discussion about his biggest breakthrough today and a huge challenge. For 10 tons not qualify think its a great opportunity for dance in general to explore these extreme positions. Those are on the one hand to really preserve classical ballet and the whole history and to stage classical productions that are very high level because one of the un cited i dont have a hand to have contemporary choreography is where the contemporary language with all that arise easy to shoot at least in all the different ways of using the body. Again and so creation ensemble that is capable of working with both these extremists. These extreme its definitely a fascinating project. The other thing. Into some support act. Is written gather enough for id like to end by asking you what comes to mind when i say. Borders. The challenges we face today yet you know your reality to be as free as children now again. Operate. Tranquility and slamming talk about no 90 percent or 95 percent and the top left. Slanted early local tourist guide for germanys booming capital i love berlin discover the multicultural metropolis with our euro max series of. 50 nations 50 stories and 15 very personal tips on berlins very best features. Book now. The moment its next on d w. Khosla. Prize 2 this. In a different way do you know how the last season you know this goes to sleep. Was the most depressing. With skulls which be expected. To scan as a surprise. In 60 minutes on t. W. It was a season of high pitched soccer action as it winds down the next exciting event is right around the corner. German bundesliga is heating up and does always were there to keep you updated with the latest on the kickoff. To mislead the sun starting august 16th on g. W. Come on you but you are no one on t. V. And lend me for. Exposing injustice global news that matters do you believe maybe 4 months. Well you wont be seeing me